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Monday, November 28, 2011

Give Those Agents a Break!

by Jemi Fraser

So? Are you NaNo-did, NaNo-didn't, NaNo-done or NaNo-brain-dead?

November has been a crazy month for the many writers who participated in NaNoWriMo. A lot of bright and shiny new ideas have taken flight. A lot of shiny new ideas have dulled, dried up and jumped into the recycling box of their own volition.

If you've finished, or are about to finish, your 50k in 30 days, good for you! I'll do a happy dance for you ... once I find my energy again.

Whatever you do, for the love of all that's pure and golden in this universe, do NOT, under any circumstances query your NaNo novel yet! All great NaNo novels (yes, even yours) need to marinate. They need to sit and simmer. And you need to let them.

This is non-negotiable.

Give that novel a few weeks. Then go back. Reread. You'll be amazed at some of the things you've written. You'll find some nuggets of gold. You'll also find some nuggets of ... yeah, that.

Your NaNo needs some loving attention after November is over. Reread. Revise. Revise again. Polish. Shine it up. Then, when you're sure it's the best it can possibly be, that's when you start researching agents who are going to fight over it.

But do those lovely agents you hope to work with one day a great big favour. Don't query yet. You'll be doing yourself a favour too!

37 comments:

Congrats on finishing NaNo. I finished a few minutes ago and I'm thrilled, but there's NO CHANCE my novel is fit for my critique partners, let alone an agent or publisher. It needs some major work, but I'm super excited to keep going and finish...and then edit and edit some more. ;)

I'm in the midst of a Nano cautionary tale. My laptop has been on life support holding carefully to my WIP. I need to make sure I have everything I need out of it before I let it meet its replacement. The moral: Save your work.

Great advice, Jemi! I finished my 50,000 words the other day as well, but am still trying to actually finish the novel before the end of the month. This is great advice for which many an agent should thank you! :)

Querying in December is not a good idea for two reasons...#1 Most agents take a break during this time of year. #2 Agents could mistakenly assume a query received during that month is for a NaNo book...which carries a negative association. :)

Wise, WISE words. My first NaNo was entirely a learning experience -- not even fit for revision afterwards, but at the end of it, I knew I could write a whole book, start to finish. Knowing that was priceless.

Hi Jemi! CONGRATS on NaNoWriMo! I finished up this morning. Blogged about my results today. I'm going to let it sit until January and then take a look at it with fresh eyes to see what is salvagable and what is trashable.